Deepti Sharma becomes the 3rd Indian player to sign for The Hundred 2024 season
India allrounder Deepti Sharma has become the third Indian player to sign up for the 2024 season of The Hundred Women's competition. Deepti will return to London Spirit, the team that she played for in the inaugural edition in 2021 as well.
The allrounder will replace Grace Harris in the Spirit squad, who has been ruled out due to injury. Deepti was also a part of The Hundred in 2022 when she was with Birmingham Phoenix but did not play a single game.
Deepti Sharma signs up for London Spirit
This will be Deepti Sharma's third season in The Hundred after 2021 and 2022. But she will miss the initial few games of the tournament as she is part of India's squad in the ongoing Asia Cup 2024. As a result, Deepti will be replaced by Erin Burns for the first two matches of the tournament.
The Hundred will start on July 23. London Spirit will play its first match on June 24 against Southern Brave. Before Deepti, Richa Ghosh and Smriti Mandhana had also signed up for The Hundred this season.
Ghosh will play for Birmingham Phoenix while Mandhana will represent Southern Brave. Both these players are also a part of India's Asia Cup squad and will miss the initial games of The Hundred.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed the latest player replacements on Thursday. Australian left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux is another high-profile player to miss out on this year's Hundred.
Molineux was due to represent Manchester Originals. Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed that Grace Harris suffered a calf strain while Sophie Molineux suffered a fractured rib.
India start Women's Asia Cup as favourites
Indian women's team is currently playing in the Asia Cup 2024 where they will play Pakistan on the first day of the competition on June 19 (Friday). The match is a high-profile one given the rivalry between the two nations. India will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur while Pakistan will be led by the experienced allrounder Nida Dar.
India are coming into this tournament on the back of good form. The Women in Blue recently won the ODI series 5-0 and drew the T20I series 1-1 against South Africa at home.
India started the 8-team tournament as favorites. The Women in Blue are in Group A along with Pakistan, Nepal, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). On the other hand, Group B consists of hosts Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Malaysia.
In the first match of the competition, Nepal defeated UAE to start on a winning note. Nepal Women chased down the target of 116 runs with 23 balls to spare.
Meanwhile, in Men's Hundred, England's Test batters will be released to play in the competition after the completion of the third Test match against West Indies at Edgbaston. England's captain Ben Stokes will play only the second half of the group stages due to his workload management.
